In The Footsteps of Colin Prior
Inspired by the landscape photographs I've seen in Colin Prior's book, Scotland's Finest Landscapes, I head to Loch Clair in Torridon to capture my own photographs of this stunning location. With only a few hours and typically Scottish weather, photography was always going to be a challenge!
Being Inspired
Inspiration for my photography comes from many different sources. Like most photographers, I look at a lot of photographs online using services such as Instagram and Flickr. For me though, one of the best sources of inspiration is the humble book. The bookshelf in my office is ever-expanding and I take a lot of joy in sharing my passion for photography books in my YouTube series, On My Bookshelf.
Last year I picked up a copy of Colin Prior's book, Scotland's Finest Landscapes and I thought it was amazing. I even did an episode of On My Bookshelf so if you want to hear my thoughts on this book in a bit more detail then click here. Even though I grew up in Scotland, and lived many of my adult years there, much of Scotland remains unexplored for me. Colin's book opened my eyes up to some of the amazing locations in Scotland and the photographic opportunities these wild locations could bring.
An Adventure to Scotland
As I browsed Colin's book I made note of all the places I would like to visit to capture my own photographs. The list was long! There aren't many negatives to living in Devon, but its distance from Scotland is definitely one of them. Trips back to the homeland are rare so if I was to tick off one of those locations from the list I would have to pick carefully and integrate it into whatever I was doing in Scotland on my next visit.
Fortunately for me, I had booked myself onto a photography workshop on the Isle of Skye with my workshop company of choice Dawn 2 Dusk Photography. The last time I went on a D2D workshop was Glencoe and I had an absolute blast. You can read about that adventure here. My trip to Skye was the perfect opportunity to spend a little extra time in the Highlands and visit one of the locations I saw in the book that had inspired me.
The Weather
As I was going to Skye I thought that one of the best areas I could visit was Torridon, an area of Scotland that I had not visited before. The images I saw in the book looked amazing and I was excited about capturing my own. I narrowed down the list and got ready for my trip to Scotland.
Arriving in Scotland I already knew that the weather wasn't going to be great and with only limited time before the workshop, I was going to have to work with what I had. What I really wanted to do was walk up one of the mountains to capture an epic vista but this was always going to be a bit of a challenge. Though I've bagged a few Munro's in my time, but these have mostly been fair-weather adventures. The weather forecast for the mountains when I was up was terrible. Way above my skill level!
Fortunately for me though, I had considered that the mountains might be inaccessible to me and I'd picked a few low-level locations as a backup. The night before I was due to head out I looked at my list and decided on Loch Clair near Liathach and Beinn Eighe. Would the low-level weather be kind to me? Would I get the opportunity to capture some amazing landscape photographs? Let's find out in my latest video, In The Footsteps of Colin Prior.
Landscape Photography Can be Hard
As you will have seen in the video, it was a challenging day. The weather conditions were variable, to say the least. It could be lashing with rain one minute, then you'd get howling winds, and then all of a sudden it would clear up. Typically Scottish really! There was no chance of reflections on the loch and I never saw the top of the mountains until I was finished for the day. While I knew the weather wasn't going to be great that day, I was hoping that it would break long enough to give me some dramatic light on the landscape.
Unfortunately, this never happened. While I did witness some amazing scenes such as incoming rain showers, crepuscular rays and rainbows, they were never really in the spots where I could have put them to good use in a composition. Despite the challenges of the photography I had a great time at Loch Clair. Yes it was cold, wet and windy at times but I had good clothing on so I was able to enjoy the wilderness and all it brings. I had a lot of time to look at the landscape while the weather was too wild to get the camera out and it looked amazing. It was just a pleasure to sit there and take it all in.
It was definitely a case of the adventure being more rewarding than the photography but I'm OK with that. Landscape photography can be hard but my love for the outdoors always means that I never consider my time wasted.
I do hope you have enjoyed this blog post and video. Who inspires your photography? Have you ever followed in the footsteps of one of your favourite photographers? Let me know in the comments below.
The Photographs
If you want to see the photographs from the video in a bit more detail you can see them below. They were all taken with the Panasonic Lumix S1R. Panasonic was kind enough to lend me this camera (and two lenses) to help me make this video. I have to say that the camera performed faultlessly despite the wild and wet conditions. I'm not planning on doing a full review of the camera but you can read some of my thoughts in this blog post.
Loch Clair Tree, Torridon, Scotland - Panasonic Lumix S1R, Lumix S 24-105mm f/4 at 24mm, f/13, 15 seconds at ISO 100, Kase Filters CPL.
Liathach from Loch Clair, Torridon, Scotland - Panasonic Lumix S1R, Lumix S 24-105mm f/4 at 24mm, f/13, 1/10th sec at ISO 100, Kase Filters CPL.
Loch Clair, Sgurr Dubh and Liathach, Torridon, Scotland - Panasonic Lumix S1R, Lumix S 24-105mm f/4 at 26mm, f/13, 1/15th sec at ISO 100, Kase Filters CPL.
Loch Clair, Liathach and Beinn Eighe, Torridon, Scotland - Panasonic Lumix S1R, Lumix S 24-105mm f/4 at 24mm, f/13, 40 seconds at ISO 100, Kase Filters CPL. Single image crop at 6:17
Loch Clair, Liathach and Beinn Eighe, Torridon, Scotland - Panasonic Lumix S1R, Lumix S 24-105mm f/4 at 24mm, f/13, 1/5th second at ISO 100, Kase Filters CPL.
Should YOU Photograph the Honeypot Locations?
Is there any point in capturing your own images from the landscape photography honeypot locations? With so many images captured from these popular locations you could be forgiven for giving them a miss. In this blog post I head to Glencoe in Scotland to photograph one of its most popular viewpoints and discuss why I think everyone should shoot a honeypot location.
They Are Honeypot Locations for a Reason
This is going to be a bit of a short blog post. There are a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, most of what I want to say is said in the video to go with this post, so there’s little point repeating it all here. I’m also a little short in time because I’ve got lots of exciting content to work on that I want to get ready before the festive period really starts.
All that aside, I’ve been wanting to make this video for a while. My original plan was to shoot it down at Durdle Door but I never quite made it there this year. When I started making plans for my trip to Skye I knew I was going to stop off in Glencoe so I decided that I would make the video there. Glencoe is not short of a few honeypot locations but I settled on the viewpoint with the small waterfall (on the river Coupall) and Stob Dearg in the background. There can’t be that many of you that haven’t seen that viewpoint before!
It’s a stunning viewpoint and one that I can’t resist photographing every time I’m in Glencoe. These viewpoints aren’t called honeypot locations for no reason! However, in some circles, photographing these locations and viewpoints can be frowned upon. While it is true that getting something new from these locations can be tricky, I don’t think this is a reason to not shoot them.
If you want to know why I think you should shoot them, check out my video below:
I’m sure most of you have already shot a few honeypot locations and have enjoyed the experience of capturing your own images. If you haven’t though, I hope this video has inspired you to visit places like the Glencoe viewpoint in the video, or even Durdle Door.
Do you have a favourite honeypot location? Are there any honeypot locations you’d like to shoot? Let me know in the comments below.
One Location, Many Viewpoints
If you want to see the images from the video in a bit more detail you’ll find them below.
The River Coupall and Buachaille Etive Mor, Glencoe, Scotland - Nikon Z7, Nikkor 14-30mm f/4 at 22mm, f/13, 1 second at ISO 200, CPL and 3 stop ND.
River Coupall Falls, Glencoe, Scotland - Nikon Z7, Nikkor 14-30mm f/4 at 15mm, f/13, 1/8th at ISO 160, CPL.
The River Coupall and Stob Dearg, Glencoe, Scotland - Nikon Z7, Nikkor 14-30mm f/4 at 22mm, f/13, 4 seconds at ISO 160, CPL and 3 stop ND.
Mountain Landscape Photography - A 5 Minute Photo Adventure from Ben Cruachan
The ascent of a Munro is a rare treat for me these days so I was really excited when I recently got the chance to walk up Ben Cruachan to do some mountain landscape photography in the Scottish Highlands.
Hill Walking in Scotland
It’s rare for me to have the opportunity to walk up a Munro these days. I live hundreds of miles away from the nearest one, and when I am in Scotland it’s usually for a family holiday and so disappearing for a day in the mountains can be a little tricky.
I almost managed an ascent of a 3000+ ft Scottish mountain last year but some unexpected snowfall put all of the Munros out of reach due to my lack in snowy mountain skills. So when I planned a return visit to Scotland over Easter, I was eager try and squeeze in an ascent.
As is the way with family holidays though, my time was squeezed, so I had to select a mountain that I could do in a few hours!
Photography from the Summit of Ben Cruachan
When selecting which mountain I was going to walk up I need only have looked out the window from where I was holidaying. Ben Cruachan, standing at 1126 m high, it definitely qualifies as a Munro, and I could make a quick ascent and still be back down before it got too dark.
In order to get up to the summit in time for sunset I need to strip my backpack down to essential camera gear. So I just took my Nikon D850, my Nikkor 24-70 mm f/2.8, my tripod, and a few filters. I had considered taking the drone but the wind was too strong. (Though it was very still at the summit….how annoying!)
I also decided to take my vlogging camera because I thought my little mountain adventure would make for a great 5 Minute Photo Adventure. So if you want to see how I got on, then check out my video below:
It was unfortunate that the conditions weren’t a little better. The sun really fizzled out in the haze along the horizon so I didn’t get much in the way of light on the mountains. However, just watching that dramatic sky from such an amazing location was reward enough for me.
Do you ever get the chance to combine landscape photography with hill walking? What’s your favourite hill or mountain? Let me know in the comments below.
Landscape Photographs from Ben Cruachan
Before I go here are the photographs you saw me capture in the video.
Drochaid Ghlas from Ben Cruachan, Argyll, Scotland - Nikon D850, Nikkor 24-70 mm f/2.8 VR at 24, f/13, 1/5th sec at ISO 64.
Stob Dearg from Ben Cruachan, Argyll, Scotland - Nikon D850, Nikkor 24-70 mm f/2.8 VR at 24mm, f/13, 1/5th sec at ISO 64.